April Burkhart Photography

every level to deliver on contractual promises. For context, I am a creative director with a long history of assisting and directing shoots, including wedding shoots. My complaints are objective and contractual. Here is the short list: 1. Almost every single photo is shot at a strange angle, making it impossible to straighten in post-editing without cutting off body parts.  2. There is only ONE photo of me walking down the aisle, barely any during vows (which lasted 20 mins), & very few during rings (we did a hand-wrapping ceremony so there was time!!) . 3. Every photo is either dark & grainy or blown out. For the record, no wedding photographer should ever use a flash. They should have soft lighting and reflectors. Had I known this was her plan, I would have run. You should, too. 4. Unlike the contract promised, she did not deliver high resolution photographs. The res. is only high enough for web, not for print. If I wanted photos just for social media, I wouldn’t have paid thousands of dollars and chosen film photography. 5. Also contrary to our contractual agreement, the photos were not edited. DO NOT BE FOOLED when she says ‘colorization’ is the same thing as editing. ‘Colorizing’ is a standard step at film-processing facilities and is absolutely not the same thing as photo-editing. It has to do with the film and light balance to ensure continuity of PRINTING. Not a single photo was edited by April or a third party. 6. Half of the film footage did not turn out. She had no explanation for this.  But we are reasonable people. Even though April failed to deliver on every level, I didn’t want her to be out of pocket on her time and for materials. So I offered for her to keep the value of $125/hour for labor plus the cost of her materials. What remained was 75% of the total, which, with professional photographers, usually accounts for the massive amount of time spent editing: time April did not spend. She agreed, recognizing the failure. She told us she would return the money if we signed an agreement promising not to pursue additional damages in the future. We were all set to sign, and then, when we read the fine print, discovered that she had slipped in a section about how we promised to never talk about or write about the experience. We were totally bowled over by this. First, we never agreed to this. Second, as people to whom ethics is very important, we would never trade rightful recompense for silence. Third, even if we could be silenced this way, hush money is a separate agreement from a refund related to services not rendered. When we kindly expressed our disappointment, and requested that line be removed, she began ghosting us. Every time I followed up, there was either total silence or a lame excuse. Eventually, she stopped responding. When I reached out on social media, she claimed she had missed our emails because she had changed her email. That was a lie. I checked.  Things happen. We’re human. That’s why we offered for her to keep 25%. But she has treated us with indignity for months. We have no photos to show for the wedding I’ve waited my adult life for (first marriage at almost 40) and complete silence now from her. It’s unconscionable. Run.